‘NCIS’ combo takes Tuesday for CBS

'Talent' strong again for NBC; ABC's 'Cougar' very tame

CBS prevailed in key demos on Tuesday behind the season finales of ”NCIS” and ”NCIS: Los Angeles,” with the latter extending into the 10 o’clock hour with a two-hour episode. Also of note, NBC’s second night of ”America’s Got Talent” easily won its block in young adults over Fox’s ”Glee,” while ABC’s ”Cougar Town” barely registered as the net’s leadoff show on the night.

According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, CBS rolled early with ”NCIS” (3.5/11 in 18-49, 18.7 million viewers overall), which grew more than 10% week to week and finished as the night’s No. 1 show in 18-49, 25-54 (4.9/13) and total viewers. It was followed by the season-ender of ”NCIS: Los Angeles” (3.0/8 in 18-49, 15.1 million viewers overall), which placed second in demos at 9 p.m. and then dominating at 10. In addition to taking Tuesday in 18-49 and 25-54, CBS dominated in total viewers , averaging more viewers than the next two closest networks combined (NBC and ABC).

NBC saw more good scores for ”America’s Got Talent” (3.4/10 in 18-49, 10.4 million viewers overall), which hit season time-period highs for the net from 8 to 10 p.m. and actually narrowly won the block over CBS in 18-49. It was followed by the finale of ”Fashion Star” (1.6/4 in 18-49, 4.9 million viewers overall), which placed third in the 10 o’clock hour.

Opposite NBC’s ”Talent,” Fox’s two-hour episode of ”Glee” settled for a 2.5/7 in 18-49 and 6.0 million viewers overall, ranking third in 18-49 from 8 to 10 p.m. while edging out ”Talent” as the night’s No. 1 show in 18-34 (2.4/8).

ABC saw miniscule numbers in the 8 o’clock hour for ”Cougar Town” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.4 million viewers overall at 8 p.m. and 1.0/3 in 18-49, 3.3 million viewers overall) and then grew at 9 p.m. with the ”Dancing With the Stars” results show (2.2/6 in 18-49, 12.9 million viewers overall), which was at a season low. And closing out the night, ”Private Practice” ranked second in its new 10 p.m. hour (1.8/5 in 18-49, 7.1 million viewers overall), rallying some from last week’s season low.

Univision nearly caught ABC for fourth on the night in 18-49, with all three of the Spanish-language network’s telenovelas ranking among the top 10 shows of the night in 18-49.

And at CW, the low-rated season finale of ”90210” (0.5/2 in 18-49, 1.1 million viewers overall) was followed by the even lower-rated newcomer ”L.A. Complex” (0.2/1 in 18-49, 0.6 million viewers overall).